The Ultimate V Character Comparison Smackdown

I think I found it:

http://wabc.typepad.com/thevblog/2011/02/ultimate-v-character-comparison-smackdown.html

** MINOR SPOILERS in my responses **

I don't agree with all of it (which is good, agreeing with someone 100% of the time just makes a person look like a brainless lackey...), but it was good to read.

Why I disagree re: Erica (at least for point 2) is because she's establishment material. Donovan, Julie, and the others had to use innate skills and learn rapidly in areas they had no real training on. And had to interact. The infighting felt more realistic. For point 1, she would have more material to more easily be able to bring together a resistance group. (But how Julie started small and got her band to bring in more people was rather innovative too...)

Donovan, in his field, might sometimes have to be inconspicuous (hence his having Visitor garb, and a key he "borrowed" on a shuttle... a shuttle returning him home, after getting on board for official news duty... ) I do agree, especially with by the time the TV show came about, the use of him became a little more lax... since I didn't bother with the reboot, apart from the pilot, I can't say anything about Erica, though when it came to the mysterious signals over the radio I only recall screaming at the screen because she kept ignoring the obvious (if the visitors had been there for decades and knowing how humans work, it was STUPID for the visitors to let their transmissions continue after scaring all the human groups into silence... the whole structure of their arrival was scribbled very badly...)

Erica does come across like the worse parent...

Donovan definitely had cheese, but the new series was just ham.

I recall Julie being far less political than Jack as well...

The review is right in that Diana had no real leadership authority (she was Science Division with dreams of power, anyway)... I'll take the article at face value, since I've seen other shows where baddies emotionlessly state to kill someone and it's always chilling. Diana was a slithery one, but the direct approach Anna is claimed to have is definitely going to be in her favor, I agree. Diana still had moments of viciousness, but it sounds like Anna had more and more direct examples... Did the 2009 remake Visitors all want to shag humans after having eye-to-eye physical lust? In which case, the remake already loses that contest...

Even with Anna's strengths, her political shlock at the start about helping people (ripping off something Obama once said or whatever, the 2009 pilot was garbage as I've forgotten the bulk of it) is no match for Diana's ambitions and that's where she clearly wins over Anna. And makes her more interesting in the end. There's a strength in being emotionlessly evil, but Diana being shifty-eyed for power makes her a menace to be reckoned with as well.

Ham Tyler's use of "gooder", a sardonic diminutive of "Do-Gooder", was novel...

I agree with Ryan being more useful - up front, Willie was a secondary technician guy. And in the TV show, Willie suddenly got more info than he otherwise likely would have.

I wonder how the Valarie pregnancy would have been handled... given that the writers sloppily made humans and visitors all have genuine physical lust for each other in that rotten pilot, I'm not wondering too much, however. (Willie/Harmony makes sense since both got to know each other and Harmony admits she did not want him for his looks. Both had emotional attachment, which is why their interest in each other works.)

Willie would lose in any "leadership" question on a contest. He doesn't have that type of persona.

Now I want to see Chad in action. In a modern day show, any reporter trying to be unbiased in telling events and not using verbiage as means to persuade already piques my interest.

Still, Kristine - by and large - came across authentically as a human. But given how Kristine blurted the info was effective, making up for her previous events with some guilt (perhaps). Chad sounds cool, but Kristine had her moments as well.

I definitely loved the Valarie vs Robin portion. :)

Looks like the show may have been canceled before finding out how many magical powers Val's baby might have. Hopefully ZERO as the Robin-baby-panacea-subplot was cringe-inducing...

Sean Donovan never had any presence, except when he was converted. If you recall the scene in the original miniseries where Donovan and Magggie Seaver (different show, same actress though) were bickering, if you recall the squirrel that ran up the tree in the background... that squirrel had more to do with the show than Sean actually had...

Daniel (original) was a real piece of work. The outcast teen finding a 'home' with the invaders... the new V could have given us someone so slimy to hate as well, I suppose...

I'd say Brian wins the 'morality' contest since the goal of the Visitors is to have as little of it as possible. Brian was a real creep to Robin.

Both shows kill off their Martin/Joshua characters, only to bring them back in silly ways. Joshua wins that round, though, as nothing could be as bad as Martin's revival...

But thanks to that article, I'm more tempted to actually watch some of the remake episodes. It sounds like some interesting changes were made...